anyone have generator repair experiance

[redneckhillbilly]

Honda ES6500 about 12 years old.
tonight I noticed my backup generator lost a 115 volt leg of power, it gets used about 10 days per year and I have always maintained it religiously and never let it run out of gas with or without a load on it.

does anyone by chance have a repair manual?
has anyone ever encountered this?

it just noticed it tonight when I did a test fire with it, the green power light on the panel was barely lit up, usually it is bright green. half of the 115 volt power outlets are dead, and it doesnt have 230 volts at the main plug either.
I turned the breaker on and off a few times and it didnt change anything.

any help or info is greatly appreciated, the unit runs flawlessly and I really dont want to replace it.

 

[ElevatorGuy]

Have you checked fuses?

 

[cus_deluxe]

check for mouse nests/chewed wires?

 

[redneckhillbilly]

took apart the plug panel found a fuse, it was good.

rear cover off of the generator unit tested voltage regulator, brushes, and found a youtube video, and have come to the conclusion it needs the stator rebuilt or fixed.

 

[redneckhillbilly]

2,600 hours on it, could it be just worn out? to me it does not seem excesive but is getting up there

 

[RCBS]

Pull the cap off the gen set and check voltage at the output terminals. If good there, could be AVR or whatever Honda used on that model...possibly a CPU.

Is the eingine running fine? Not sounding odd or anything?

 

[redneckhillbilly]

i pulled the cap off and checked the terminals voltage regulator and brushes, one leg of power has been lost, everything else checked out, doing some ohms testing I discovered the issue is with the stator which is no longer available.

motor runs flawlessly fires up as quick as you can hit the key, stays a constant RPM low idle works great also.

it just seems 2,600 hours really isnt a whole lot, to be needing the stator rewound.

 

[Farmer Jean]

Since you use it sparingly, was it working the last time you fired it up?

If so, before you get the stator rewound or replaced, check things over for signs of rodent damage as mentioned above, but also keep an eye out for corrosion at every connection. Given enough time the moisture in the air is enough to create a thin layer of corrosion that increases resistance.

If everything looks good you can try a little trick. With the generator running, plug in a corded drill, set it to the forward position, press and hold the drill's power button and it shouldn't be spinning at all. Next, wearing gloves, "flash" the generator by grabbing the drill chuck and turning it in reverse (drill still in forward postion, handle still help down all the way).

This will send a small amount of current back to the generator and, for whatever reason, flashing the generator like this sometimes makes it come back to life.... assuming it had no other issues.

Worth trying before you throw money at it, but be careful(and ready to let the drill chuck go). Do not do this with a drill bit in the drill, obviously. You might want to check out a how to "flash" a generator video on youtube to see what it looks like, I'm sure someone's made one.

If that doesn't work some people suggest flashing it with a car battery but I wouldn't recommend it, too many small wires in the generator won't handle that much charge in reverse.

good luck!

 

[redneckhillbilly]

I will give that a try, Thanks for the idea.

It worked great last time I used it, this time of year the power at my house usually goes out for a few days a couple times, there was no signs of critters getting in it, I did take apart most all of the panels that hold the wiring and plugs and unplugged every connector and made sure it was clean and no corrosion, local Honda generator dealer is 6 weeks backed up on repair service.

I still have a couple of 115 volt plugs that work so I will be able to keep the fridges and freezers cold, just wont be able to run my well pump.

 

[Farmer Jean]

Normally when one outlet works and another doesn't you can work backwards, maybe swap the individual plug harnesses, to see if it's the plug/wiring.

In your case you're getting enough to power one, not enough for another and none at the 230v. My hunch is that it's generating some power, but not enough to get past the initial load. It's like a car alternator working but not spinning quickly enough.

I don't see the stator winding being the problem or you wouldn't still have a good outlet but I've seen some strange things, lol.

If flashing it(requires no dissassembly) doesn't work move on to checking/cleaning the motor brushes. If those are dirty, worn, or broken you'd get the same symptoms. Be careful with these, they break easily and cost around $75 a set. When you're done, go ahead and clean the armature where they contact it too. Use something soft, like an eraser, to get the armature contact area looking like clean copper again.

Make sure it spins freely by hand when you re-install. You may have binding or bearing issues if it "rubs" which would also present with a loss of power(and usually some grinding noise).

Always diagnose in order from easiest to fix onwards.

 

[redneckhillbilly]

it seems there should be 2 hot leads, each supply half of the panel and than are combined into to 240V plug, half of the panel works, the other half doesnt

i found a few diagnostic videos on youtube, nothing on my exact model, but they all had the same principles, test brush output, ohm the rings brushes ride on, and check input/output to AVR plug, I have a yellow wire that should be hot to the AVR that is not, wich is why I think there is a broken wire in the stator, and there is also a yellow to the panel that branches off to the outlets that is dead.

 

[redneckhillbilly]

if anyone by chance has a shop repair manual for a Honda ES6500, I am willing to buy it or even pay something just to borrow it.

 

[Hugo]

Será modelo Eg 6500

 

[Hugo]

Te sirve

 

[Hugo]

este !!!